Since gentoo's kde3 startkde doesn't explicitly set KDEDIRS and QTDIRS, several users (myself included) have reported problems starting up kde3, using wallpapers etc. Adding these variables to the script has not so far caused me any problems, so I suggest they be included in the next ebuild. No idea why only some users have been affected, but maybe people are just fixing it themselves, since I posted the fix on the users list.
I've added KDEDIRS to the kde3 startkde and committe a new kdebase revision with it a few days ago. A more permanent solution would be to include it n the env.d files from kdelibs, both in 2.x and 3.x. I'll test it and commit tomorrow if it no problems emerge (i.e. from adding kde2 to KDEDIRS as well).
Actually, a problem did surface. When kdebase 2.x and 3.x for both emerged, and both were in KDEDIRS, some menu entries were duplicated. Fex. the kicker applet list (when you add an applet) had the kde2 applets too, which had the same names as the kde3 ones, which can be quite confusing. Ditto for konsole's terminal emulation types. So I won't be adding kde2 to KDEDIRS just yet. If at all. Nothing needs it anyway except for a kde2 koffice used from kde3. But adding the main kde3's KDEDIR to KDEDIRS fixed the problem you originally reported.
Closing. The solution described in my last comment is permanent. (Only kde3 dirs are added to KDEDIRS; this is now done).
